Institute for Global City Policing

This paper requests the approval for procurement of funds to establish the Institute for Global City Policing and Safety. In order to establish the Institute, MOPAC would put forward £500,000 over a five year period.

The DMPC approves the procurement of £500,000 funds over a five-year period to establish the Institute for Global City Policing and Safety.

Introduction and background

1.1. By promoting professional excellence and evidence based practices, the Institute for Global City Policing and Safety (“the Institute”) is a key part of the Mayor’s ambition to make London the safest global city. The Institute will be an independent research organization operating as a hub of a collaborative network of universities that will deliver robust, high-quality research, promote knowledge transfer and provide postgraduate and professional training relevant to global city policing in London. The Institute would be the first open and formal research partnership between the MPS and academia and will complement many existing initiatives being led by the College of Policing.

1.2. The benefits of the Institute include enabling formalised and sustained engagement between police practitioners and academics, academic work that has practical benefits for policing, increased understanding of successful outcomes for London as a global city, building the evidence base around recognised best practice and using what works adapted for an evolving global city and enabled evidence-based and research-informed decision-making at operational, policy and strategic levels of policing.

Issues for consideration

2.1. To enable effective policy input and knowledge transfer, MOPC has offered to place one of its full time research staff to serve as a knowledge transfer expert to the Institute on yearly secondment. This will be subject to appropriate staffing over the five year commitment. The staff person will be a key link for MOPAC and the MPS.

2.2. University College London (UCL) has interviewed and been selected to be the host of the Insitute. Through the creation of the Institute, UCL will host the Institute itself, employ under its own governance structure its Director at the Professorship level, consult with MOPAC and MPS to determine research priorities that are aligned with MPS objectives, contribute towards assisting the MPS in developing evidence based policies and raise the profile of global city policing and of the MPS and MOPAC in the area of global city policing.

Financial Comments

3.1. The MPS has approved a seed-funding commitment of £500,000 over a five year period to be funded from the Major Change Fund which Robin Wilkinson is the budget holder for.

3.2. According to UCL’s proposal, they intend to contribute to the Institue by covering the salary shortfall for the Chair and half-time administrator for the first 5 years and fund the positions in full following this time, provide the necessary office accommodation and computer staff, and appoint a permanent Professor to lead the Institute.

3.3. The approach will allow the MPS to harness much greater academic support aligned to MPS priorities than currently available. This expansion in research cannot be achieved in MPS alone and will increase the breadth of intelligence and best practices applied to fighting crime, leading to better outcomes for the public. It is anticipated that for the yearly £100,000 grant, the access to a professor and the wide range of research students will have a value in the region of £250,000.

Legal Comments

4.1. This proposal has been discussed at the MPS Management Board. The MPS have confirmed the funding will come from the Major Change Fund which Robin Wilkinson is the budget holder for.

Equality Comments

5.1. There are no direct equality and diversity implications arising from this proposal.

5.2. The establishment of the Institute will increase international multi-agency partnership cooperation and learning; undoubtedly facilitating the development of a range of policing areas with an equality dimension whether this be community engagement or the recruitment of a diverse police force.